Page 67 of Watching the Earl

She frowned, trying to figure out why Philip would think such a thing. “You did tell him I was calling on friends, correct?”

“I did. If I may, my lady, I believe he’s very taken with you and that can be, shall I say, uncomfortable.”

Completely stupefied, she cocked her head and pulled her earlobe, trying to make sense of this. “Explain, please.”

For the first time since she’d met him, Haines’s posture slumped and his shoulders rolled forward. “When I first realized I loved the missus, I suddenly feared that another man would try to take her from me. It is an uncomfortable feeling for a man.”

She stared at him. “You think my husband loves me?”

He nodded.

Her heart started to race. “Has he said as much?”

“We men don’t talk about these things.”

She found that odd, since she and her friends talked about everything. Then again, Haines was a servant. “Then you’re guessing.”

“It is an educated guess born of experience and, if I may, being a man.”

Philip loved her? The thought sent joy through her entire body. Not wishing to dance in front of her butler, she started for the stairs, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Thank you, Haines.”

“You’re welcome, my lady.”

She turned back and ran up the stairs, not wishing Haines to see her smile. Her mother had said that being appropriate in front of the servants was paramount to keeping one’s name out of gossip.

As soon as she reached her room, she closed the door and squealed. Then she danced about the room as if waltzing with Philip. He loved her. Had she hoped? Yes, very much. Had she expected it? Never so soon.

He loved her.

That meant she could love him! She stopped dancing and flounced back upon her bed, looking up at the canopy above her. Her husband actually loved her. She couldn’t quite believe it. Her parents only tolerated one another, but all her friends who had married had found love, and now she had too.

She’d tried really hard not to love Philip, but she couldn’t help herself. In fact, she was quite positive she’d fallen in love with him before they married, but didn’t want to admit it. Now she could, and it felt wonderful.

She sat up. What if Haines was wrong? What if Philip didn’t love her? Or what if he did and didn’t know it yet? She rose and started to pace. If he did and didn’t know it, there was no harm in loving him. He would come to realize it eventually.

She stopped. But what if he didn’t love her, and she loved him? Then she would have to wait. And if he didn’t fall in love with her?

She sat back on the bed again, clasping her hands together. What would her friends do? The answer came swiftly. “They’d ask.”

That was what she would do—tonight. She’d ask her husband if he loved her.

Chapter Eighteen

Philip stared at the cold fireplace, debating what to do. He wanted to go into his wife’s room and make love to her. That was what he should do. But he found himself nervous about his reception. She’d left so quickly after he’d told her about what he’d done to his father that he didn’t know what she thought. She’d given no clue at dinner, either, where they were joined by the neighbors. It had been his idea, as he wished to learn about the owners of the townhouse to better leverage his request to purchase it.

Georgina had appeared almost fairylike in her new gown of shimmering material that, when it caught the light, appeared pink yet blue yet green at the same time. Her confidence as hostess showed, and he congratulated himself again on his match, but his worry continued throughout the evening. At one point she’d whispered that he needed to stop frowning so much. He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing so.

He glanced at the open door to his dressing room. Was she expecting him? Did she hope he didn’t come? He rubbed the back of his neck as his frustration mounted. Being married to her would be torture if she didn’t want him anymore, and he wanted her more than any other woman he’d ever coupled with.

Since when had he become monogamous like his father? It was never something he’d thought much about, but now, the thought of any other woman…

He shook his head. He was getting nowhere.

A knock sounded at his door. “Come in.”

“Sorry to return so late, my lord.”

Happy for the diversion, he rose to talk to his valet. “What did you discover, Gibson?”